CODEOPTBRA. 297 



tus, a linear beetle with a much elongated rostrum, "fighting for 

 "a female, who stood close by busy at her boring. They pushed 

 "at each other with their rostra, and clawed and thumped, ^p- 

 "parently in the greatest rage." The smaller male, however, 

 "soon ran away, acknowledging himself vanquished." In some 

 few cases male beetles are well adapted for fighting, by possess- 

 ing great toothed mandibles, much larger than those of the fe- 

 males. This is the case with the common stag-beetle (Lucanus 

 cervus), the males of which emerge from the pupal state about a 

 week before the other sex, so that several may often be seen 

 pursuing the same female. At this .season they engage in fierce 

 conflicts. When Mr. A. H. Davis"" enclosed two males with one 

 female in a box, the larger male severely pinched the smaller one, 

 until he resigned his pretensions. A friend informs me that when 

 a boy he often put the males together to see them fight, and he 

 noticed that they were much bolder and fiercer than the females, 

 as with the higher animals. The males would seize hold of his 

 finger, if held in front of them, but not so the females, although 

 they have stronger jaws. The males of many of the Lucanidae, as 

 well as of the above-mentioned Leptorhynchus, are larger and 

 more powerful insects than the females. The two sexes of Le- 

 thrus cephalotes (one of the Lamellicorns) inhabit the same bur- 

 row; and the male has larger mandibles than the female. If, dur- 

 ing the breeding-season, a strange male attempts to enter the bur- 

 row, he is attacked; the female does not remain passive, but closes 

 the mouth of the burrow, and encourages her mate by continually 

 pushing him on from behind; and the battle lasts until the ag- 

 gressor is killed or runs away.™ The two sexes of another 

 Lamellicorn beetle, the Ateuchus cicatricosus, live in pairs, and 

 seem much attached to each other; the male excites the female to 

 roll the ball of dung in which the ova are deposited; and if she is 

 removed, he becomes much agitated. If the male is removed the 

 female ceases all work, and as M. Brulerie" believes, would remain 

 on the same spot until she died. 



The great mandibles of the male Luscanids are extremely va- 

 riable both in size and structure, and in this respecet resemble 

 the horns on the head and thorax of many male Lamellicorns and 

 Staphylinidse. A perfect series can be formed from the best-pro- 

 vided to the worst-provided or degenerate males. Although the 

 mandibles of the common stag-beetle, and probably of many other 

 species, are used as efficient weapons for fighting, it is doubtful 



»» 'Entomological Magazine,' vol. 1. 1S33, p. 82. See, also, on the 

 conflicts of this species, Kirby and Spence, ibid. vol. iii. p. 314; and 

 Westwood, ibid. vol. i. p. 187. 



"> Quoted from Fischer, in 'Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat.' torn. x. p. 324. 



" 'Ann. Soc. Entomolog. France,' 1866, as quoted In 'Journal of 

 Travel,' by A. Murray, 1868, p. 135. 



